


Christmas isn't a season. It's a feeling.

by SuperAnarchy



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, M/M, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, pre-war stucky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-21
Updated: 2014-12-21
Packaged: 2018-03-02 17:55:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2821073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuperAnarchy/pseuds/SuperAnarchy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the Christmas season, Bucky always starts his second job. All through the summer, he’s a seller on the markets, and during the winter, Bucky drives a Christmas Carriage through New York City. He’s been doing that for the past five years and he has to say, he loves it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Christmas isn't a season. It's a feeling.

**Author's Note:**

> You can also find me [on tumblr!](http://superanarchy.tumblr.com/)  
> 

For the Christmas season, Bucky always starts his second job. All through the summer, he’s a seller on the markets, and during the winter, Bucky drives a Christmas Carriage through New York City. He’s been doing that for the past five years and he has to say, he loves it.

Dealing with the customers is one thing, but what Bucky loves the most is pacing the streets at the rhythm of his horses. The city is always so beautiful at night, the lightings, all the decorations. People battling with snowballs, little snowmen on the sidewalks, all the ornaments adorning the trees, it’s just something in the air. It’s wonderful. Everyone always smiles at him, people constantly ask him permission to caress his horses and-

A cold ball of snow hits him right in the face and pulls him out of his thoughts in a half second. Bucky glances around him trying to catch the culprit, the little felon who tried to assassinate him with snow.

“Sorry Mr. Barnes!” a child shouts.

Bucky’s laugh joins the children’s and he tells them it’s fine, but they should fear him next time. In this area, every kid knows him. It’s a poor neighbourhood and Bucky and his carriage are the biggest distraction in town. Once in awhile he offers them a little tour, for free. They always try to prank him, usually they don’t take him by surprise but Bucky always pretends they did. This time though, they really did, he didn’t see that snowball coming.

Yes, honestly, Christmas is his favourite part of the year.

A little later that night, he just finished a course with two lovely young ladies and their husbands when he hears a loud rumble coming from the back of an alley. At first he doesn’t pay attention, it’s an empty street and he thought the chaos was coming from animals fighting. But when he reaches the level of the alley, he sees a tall, tough man, hitting and punching what Bucky assumes is another man laying on the ground. Bucky doesn’t even think about it before jumping out of his carriage, abandoning it in the middle of the street under the confused look of his animals.

“Hey!” he shouts. The closer Bucky gets and the better his sight is and that’s definitely a man raging on a shorter one and he isn’t going to let that happen any longer. Where in the hell is everyone’s Christmas’s spirit tonight. (Yes, he kind of argued with another man earlier, but that’s another story).

“Stop it!” Bucky yells, striding toward the two men. He grabs the tallest one by the back of his shirt and throws him out of the way. Bucky’s foot kicks the bigger man’s ass and as the man tries to run away Bucky comments, “Go pick on someone your own size!”

Bucky sighs when he turns back to look at what he first thought was a teenager. But as it turns out, is someone who looks older than his first guess. “Okay there punk?”

“I had him on the ropes,” the small guy grumbles, sniffing, cracking his jaw.

“Yeah, you sure did,” Bucky scoffs, mocking the little man whose nose is bleeding.

“What?” the other guys says after Bucky’s been staring for too long.

“Nothing, I was just waiting for a ‘thank you’ you know, for saving your ass,”

“I had—”

“Him on the ropes, yah you said that already,” Bucky teases and smiles, “You sure there’s no commotion?” He then lends him a hand to ease the boy up his feet.

The little man takes his hand in his and straightens. “I’m fine,” he drops, looking away, cleaning one of his unbuttoned sleeve “But thank you—”

“Bucky,” he answers the unspoken question.

“Steve.”

“So, Stevie,” Bucky says, wrapping an arm around Steve’s shoulders, “Do you need a ride home or you want to walk covered in your own blood ? Because Halloween was weeks ago, you know, it’s Christmas time now. Ya don’t wanna scare the damsels right?”

Steve glances at his shirt, spotted and soiled with drops of his own blood. He follows Bucky without answering and stops when Bucky climbs in the carriage. Staring at it. Apparently more than slightly surprised by the unexpected kind of transportation.

“That’s…” Steve starts “That’s your ride?” he says in disbelief.

“Are you coming or?” Bucky laugh, already sit.

Steve looks like he’s hesitating for a second, but he climbs up and sit next to Bucky.

“So, where are we going?”

“Brooklyn.” Steve answers, almost whispering, looking everywhere around him.

“Really? I live there.”

“Yeah?” Bucky catches Steve’s smile and he notices it disappears quickly, soon replaced by a concerned look. “But don’t you have other rides to do? Is your work night over? What time is it?”

“I did a fairly good day, don’t worry ‘bout it. Or if you wanna stay sitting for a bit more, I still can take customers, free ride for you doll.”

Steve looks like he’s considering the suggestion for a few long seconds. “Actually I’d like that,” he says.

Bucky smiles in return, unsure why he enjoys the company of this little reckless punk. He might scare away the clients with all the blood on his shirt and face, so Bucky lends him his coat, and a handkerchief to clean up his face. The coat is as much to cover the blood on his shirt as because his teeth are starting to chatter and he looks so tiny and frail, Bucky would blame himself if the little man would catch a cold. Or worse.

“What are the horses named?”

“Ah, I named this one Natasha. Never trust her, she looks like the nicest animal, but she’ll kick your ass as soon as you turn your back on her.”

“Sounds like experience…”

“Indeed. She broke a few of my ribs, my fault though, I knew better than teasing her with an apple and not giving it to her immediately. I got distracted and showed my back, she literally ran into me.”

“Yeah, your fault, should have given her the apple right away. I think I like her already. Who’s the other one?”

“Clint. I have to take him with me whenever I take ‘Tasha out, otherwise he gets depressed. He needs to be around her all the time.”

“That’s cute.”

“Sometimes he just stops walking and it looks like he’s staring at her. That would be cute if he wasn’t stopping in the middle of the street, that dumbass.” Bucky ends his sentence a bit louder, glancing at Clint.

Steve laughs and looks around him again. Watching carefully at the shops, all decorated, the lampposts, and balconies. Apparently, Steve agrees with Bucky on the fact that the streets during Christmas season are always so beautiful. Everything is so bright and beautiful and – oh yes, it’s snowing now.

“I bet that’s good for the rides, right, the snow?”

“Yeah, people love it.”

“You don’t?”

“I do, I like snow, but I like it better when I’m home. Snow’s not good for the horses’ feet.”

“Oh. Yeah, right… I’m sure Natasha can handle snow.”

“She can, I’m more concerned about Clint,” Bucky laughs.

“Hey, looks like you have customers!” Steve smiles, pointing at the people waving a little farther with a nod of his chin.

And that’s how the night goes. Bucky and Steve taking customers in the carriage and making a tour around the city. Bucky usually makes sure to entertain the clients, telling all the stories he knows about the places they see, this time though, he tells them to special customer. And Steve seems to enjoy them, every single one of them, he even gives Bucky new ones to tell later.

At the end of the night, Bucky drops Steve at his apartment, he still has to go back to the warehouse and feed Natasha and Clint and make sure they’re all right before letting them rest after a long cold night of work. And funny thing, Steve actually lives near Bucky’s place, and when Bucky mentions it, Steve tells him they’ll see each other again then.

Bucky asks him if he’s free the next night, or if he’s too busy getting beat up in an alley, to which Steve laughs, “Are you asking me on a date?”

Bucky gives him one of his best smiles, and Bucky can tell that it’s not the fresh air that’s making Steve blush. “Thought you might want to have another free tour of the city. There’s still places I haven’t shown you yet.”

“Still?”

“Yes, so what do you say?”

“Sure, I would love to.” Steve smiles and starts to take off the coat Bucky lend him, “Thanks, for… everything.”

“Just avoid to get into another fight, or at least wait for me to be around,” Bucky blinks at him and he hears Steve mumbling when he climbs back into his carriage.

“So, I see you tomorrow, yeah?”

Steve nods and Bucky leaves him. He surprises himself smiling like an idiot for a big part of the way.

Yeah, no doubt about it, Christmas is definitely Bucky’s favourite holiday.


End file.
